New York's incoming leftist mayor Zohran Mamdani marches into the White House on Friday for a high-stakes sit-down with President Donald Trump, after a bruising war of words that lit up cable news and social media.

Mamdani, a 34-year-old political insurgent who rocketed from obscurity to win City Hall earlier this month, said Thursday he was "ready for whatever happens."

Sparks could fly when the self-described Democratic socialist meets the 79-year-old Republican leader who has branded him a "communist" and even suggested the Ugandan-born New Yorker should be deported.

Both men hail from the Queens borough of New York City and both are masters of political theater -- but their styles couldn't be more different.

The Oval Office showdown is seen more as a clash of ideologies, generation

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